The subject matter disclosed herein relates to an image processing apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more specifically to an image processing apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of generating more natural-looking interpolation frames.
There has heretofore been known an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus wherein a pixel value of a pixel point on each actual frame (a frame in which each pixel value is obtained by actual measurement) corresponding to a given time and a pixel value of a pixel point on each actual frame corresponding to a time subsequent to the time are weighted/added to obtain a pixel value of a pixel point on each interpolation frame (a frame in which each pixel value is obtained by interpolation calculation) corresponding to an intermediate time (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9(1997)-220228).
On the other hand, there has been known an image processing apparatus wherein on an actual frame, each pixel value is calculated by linear interpolation from pixel values of a plurality of original pixel points (pixel points at which pixel values are obtained by actual measurement) in the neighborhood of each interpolation pixel point (a pixel point at which each pixel value is obtained by interpolation calculation), and each of random components is added to the calculated pixel value thereby to obtain a pixel value of each interpolation pixel point (refer to, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 7(1995)-44701).
If the two prior arts are combined into one, it is then considered that the pixel value of the pixel point on each actual frame corresponding to the given time and the pixel value of the pixel point on each actual frame corresponding to its subsequent time are weighted/added, and each random component is added to the pixel value obtained by weighting/adding to obtain the pixel value of the pixel point on each interpolation frame corresponding to the intermediate time.
Thus, each random component is added to the pixel value calculated by linear interpolation to obtain the pixel value of the pixel point on each interpolation frame, thereby making it possible to create the intended interpolation frame that is naturally seen as compared with such a case that the pixel value calculated by linear interpolation is set as the pixel value of the pixel point on the interpolation frame as it is.
A problem, however, arises in that since the degree of freedom of each added random component is 1, a natural-looking degree becomes insufficient.